MSE News: House sales plunge in 3-year slump

Former_MSE_Guy · 25 January 2012 at 10:45AM

This is the discussion thread for the following MSE News Story:

"House sales fell last year to one of the lowest totals recorded, figures from HM Revenue and Customs reveal ..."

Read the full story:
House sales plunge in 3-year slump

ader42 · 25 January 2012 at 11:11AM

Rents are so low at the moment it's cheaper to keep my money in the bank than buy a house with it. I can't see sales levels increasing except in the btl sector.

I'm seeing more houses come on the market at lower initial asking prices and far more coming to market than are selling (supply and choice is increasing).

brit1234 · 25 January 2012 at 11:29AM

I have a group of friends now who refuse to buy till prices fall, they are still very overvalued but good to see that house prices continue to fall, even fortress London now.

Not all my friends are on this first time buyer strike, some are just trying to save the big deposits, this will take a few years to save. At least they realise finally that the shared ownership/equity route is a scam based on what other friends have experienced.

After the stamp duty change sales of all properties will fall as chains need first time buyers.

Retro_Bunny · 25 January 2012 at 2:08PM

It's simple. Stop building "affordable" houses, and allow development of expensive houses.

I've been trying to move for 5 years - I live in an affordable house, own and rent another affordable house, and desperately want to move to an "unaffordable" house but there are none on the market due to their restricted development. However there are tons of boxy affordable houses available. Just nothing in the middle banding between say £150k and £400k for me to move to.

If you allow someone to build a single expensive house, I'll put 2 "affordable" / first time buyer houses on the market, £110k and £140k. I would imagine I'm not alone, stuck in a stagnant market.

All markets rely on a range of products: new cars / nearly new cars / used cars, Tesco value / standard / finest. Why does the wisdom of government believe that we only need 'value' houses?

Odette · 25 January 2012 at 2:21PM

Good news for me, hopefully there will have to be something done about over-valued houses, especially in the south.

Oxford_Guy · 25 January 2012 at 2:27PM

ader42 wrote: »

Rents are so low at the moment it's cheaper to keep my money in the bank than buy a house with it. I can't see sales levels increasing except in the btl sector.

I wouldn't describe £900/month for a small 2 bedroom terrace house (this is what I'm paying in Oxford) as "low"....

I've been hanging on for years waiting for house prices to get cheaper, but have seen no sign of this in Oxford, at best they've stopped going up so fast. To buy a 2 bed terrace similar to the one we're renting is still at least £225,000!

Itismehonest · 25 January 2012 at 2:55PM

More & more people are just deciding to either take their houses off the market to wait & see what happens or not put them up for sale in the first place. This only leaves the people who have to sell &, among those, many cannot let their properties go for below a certain figure.
Most of the attention is, quite rightly, paid to those trying to get onto the first rung of the property ladder but the knock-on continues all the way up the market. If people cannot move to their 2nd or 3rd homes then older sellers wishing to downsize can't find buyer for their properties &, in turn, hold up the the sales of smaller properties.

The outcome is that the market grinds toward a halt but it doesn't necessarily lead to a large fall in prices due to the supply & demand factor - with not enough properties in the popular demand bracket prices hold up.

TypeR · 25 January 2012 at 4:00PM

Itismehonest wrote: »

More & more people are just deciding to either take their houses off the market to wait & see what happens or not put them up for sale in the first place. This only leaves the people who have to sell &, among those, many cannot let their properties go for below a certain figure.
Most of the attention is, quite rightly, paid to those trying to get onto the first rung of the property ladder but the knock-on continues all the way up the market. If people cannot move to their 2nd or 3rd homes then older sellers wishing to downsize can't find buyer for their properties &, in turn, hold up the the sales of smaller properties.

The outcome is that the market grinds toward a halt but it doesn't necessarily lead to a large fall in prices due to the supply & demand factor - with not enough properties in the popular demand bracket prices hold up.

With respect, that's wishful thinking - Economies Boom and Bust, Our Economy won't return to significant growth until THE one major factor of living in the UK is addressed and that is the cost of the roof over your head.

Whilst prices of rent and buying remain high the economy simply won't function. People won't invest in UK Business if all the unemployed people are demanding £30k a year salaries to pay for accomodation of some kind.

When house prices normalise, people can take jobs paying less.

Itismehonest · 25 January 2012 at 4:17PM

I didn't say growth, I said no big fall (as in crash).

I agree with you but, while interest rates are low, the reasons for any crash are more likely to come from increases in repossessions due to unemployment rising etc. or possibly if/when the rental market becomes less attractive to investors.

I'm not just pulling theories out of the air. It is personal experience of having a property on the market last year. 5 months on the market. 15 viewings. 5 interested; 2 of which hadn't even put their own place on the market; 2 who had but subsequently pulled out because they couldn't sell their own & 1 whose monetary position was a total nightmare & were living in cloud cuckoo land.
In other words 5 sets of people who were to some degree or another timewasters as none were in a position to buy any property whatever the price.
We don't need the hassle so will wait until there is more certainty in the market.

PD1 · 25 January 2012 at 4:26PM

Odette wrote: »

Good news for me, hopefully there will have to be something done about over-valued houses, especially in the south.

What amazes me is the people who ARE willing to pay silly inflated house prices - surely there can't be an endless supply of cash rich idiots who don't know what to do with their money bar throw it at an increasingly unstable market.

ReadingTim · 25 January 2012 at 5:31PM

PD1 wrote: »

What amazes me is the people who ARE willing to pay silly inflated house prices - surely there can't be an endless supply of cash rich idiots who don't know what to do with their money bar throw it at an increasingly unstable market.

Maybe these 'cash rich idiots' are just people who prefer their walls a different colour to magnolia, and don't like being at the mercy of a 6 month AST?

MSE News: House sales plunge in 3-year slump

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